Tag Archives | mass suicide

Informational signs scattered throughout warn passersby, “Your life is precious”. Tofugu on one of the spookiest spots in Japan:

Located at the base of Mt. Fuji, Aokigahara is perhaps the most infamous forest in Japan. Also known as the Sea of Trees, Suicide Forest, and Japan’s Demon Forest, Aokigahara has been home to over 500 confirmed suicides since the 1950s.

Wataru Tsurumui’s controversial 1993 bestseller The Complete Suicide Manual is a book that describes various modes of suicide and even recommends Aokigahara as the perfect place to die. Undoubtedly, the most common method of suicide in the forest is hanging.

Japanese spiritualists believe that the suicides committed in the forest have permeated Aokigahara’s soil and trees, generating paranormal activity and preventing many who enter from escaping the gnarled depths of the forest.

Soup, rather than Kool-Aid, was likely the method to be utilized. The Daily Mail reports:

Police swooped on a Brazilian doomsday cult just 10 minutes before more than 100 followers were about to commit mass suicide by drinking poisoned soup.

Elite troops burst into a building where self-proclaimed prophet Luis Pereira dos Santos had barricaded himself in after predicting the world would end at 8pm. There was believed to be an exchange of gunfire between the group and police who used gas bombs and pepper spray during the assault. Santos was arrested as officers took away a tub containing a sweet paste made from Caju fruit which they suspected contained a toxic product.

Known to his flock as Daddy Luis, Santos had claimed an angel visited four years ago telling him the exact time the world was going to end. Last month, the 43-year-old spiritual leader instructed his 113 followers to leave their jobs, give away all their possessions and take their children out of school, police confirmed.